Windows Phone bug disables messaging system

A reported vulnerability in Windows Phone causes its messaging features to be disabled after the device is sent a specific SMS or chat message.

By
Jeremy Kirk
| Dec 13, 2011

| IDG News Service

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A reported vulnerability in Windows Phone causes its messaging features to be disabled after the device is sent a specific SMS or chat message.

The bug was reported to the blog Winrumors by Khaled Salameh, wrote Tom Warren, who runs the Microsoft-focused website. Warren wrote that both are in the process of notifying Microsoft.

In a video, Warren shows that after a Windows Phone device receives the message, it then shuts down. Upon reboot, the messaging hub tile does not work despite repeated attempts. The denial-of-service issue also occurs if a person is sent a specific Facebook or Windows Live Messenger chat message.

Winrumors ran tests on the HTC Titan, the Samsung Focus Flash and others running the 7740 version of Windows Phone 7.5 and the Mango RTM build 7720, Warren wrote. "At this stage, there doesn't appear to be a workaround to fix the messaging hub apart from hard resetting and wiping the device," he wrote.

The bug appears to have other strange effects. Warren found that a live tile featuring updates from a Facebook friend will lock up if that friend posts a particular message. Warren wrote that problem could be avoided by initially booting up a device, getting past the lock screen quickly and then removing the live tile before it flips over and locks the device.